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A third runway won’t satisfy the airport lobby

We need regional hubs, not an expanded Heathrow. The Government must not give way

Chris Mullin

August 29 2012, 1:01am, The Times

Does God do irony? If so, he must be chuckling at the news that Tim Yeo, the chairman of the select committee supposed to hold the Government to account on greenhouse gas emissions and a former Environment Minister, has come out in favour of a third runway at Heathrow.

During my 18 months as a junior minister responsible for aviation policy, I learnt two things. First, that the demands of the aviation industry are insatiable. Second, that successive governments usually give way to them. That the front benches of all three main parties appeared united against further expansion at Heathrow ought to have meant that the issue was dead and buried. But no, here we go again.